Government should assume a more direct role in the running of ports and railway functions and improve security measures instead of relying on state-owned entities to resuscitate the country’s ailing rail network.
That is one of the interventions proposed by ActionSA to any party that it might form a government with to rebuild the country’s rail lines.
The party believes the decline of the rail infrastructure has added more stress on businesses, households and the road network.
“Goods that were efficiently being transported by rail are now being transported on roads that were never meant for those kinds of loads, wreaking havoc on our provincial road network,” said ActionSA national chair Michael Beaumont, who is also responsible for infrastructure.
“It has also placed a burden on businesses and households to use more expensive and less efficient means to transport products and people on a daily basis.”
Beaumont said South Africa's slow economic growth was another ripple effect of this decline, highlighting the cost of the dwindling numbers of containers transported by rail in the 688km container corridor between the Durban port and Gauteng.
“As recently as last year it was determined that 13% of the containers transported out of Durban Harbour were being moved by rail, with 87% being moved on trucks on the N3 to Gauteng. In 2023, this railway line operated at just 25% capacity. The total cost of this is R353bn, or 4.9% of our national GDP.”
Presenting the party’s Infrastructure Master Plan to address the rail crisis on Thursday, Beaumont called for the reformation of Transnet by separating port and railway functions and for the transport department to take over both functions.
“What we need is direct control of strategic functions of our country and the outsourcing of some of these functions to state-owned entities is problematic ... The running of an effective railway is the work of the department of transport,” he told TimesLIVE Premium.
“Transnet has debt of R115bn and yearly interest of R15bn. It’s an institution in deep trouble and needs the help of the core departments of South Africa to stabilise.”
Beaumont believe there is no need for the country's 123 SOEs. He said the proliferation of SOEs was to create a “bloated civil service” by the governing party and to allow for “political patronage”.
“Prasa and Transnet have been eroded away to a point that there is almost nothing left. We think government must have a very direct role in the running of its infrastructure, and it doesn’t need to be kept at an arm’s length.”
“We need professional people. We need a DoT with engineers and project managers who can go out and get the best service available to do this kind of work, do it with value and ensure this project is completed within budget and on time. We don’t need a failing state-owned entity to do that either.”
The party also called for stronger security measures for the rail network amid infrastructure vandalism theft, with five security-related incidents taking place per day, according to Transnet.
To achieve this, Beaumont said his party will:
- pass new regulations under the National Key Point Act to list strategic railway lines as National Key Points;
- pass the Criminal Laws Amendment Act that established the crime of economic sabotage to a national key point as an offence with a minimum sentence of life in prison;
- establish a dedicated Railway Police Unit which becomes a one-stop shop involving the functions of asset protection, intelligence gathering and investigations;
- deploy the military, under the command of SAPS, to guard infrastructure determined as National Key Points, including the country's strategic railway network.
Rejuvenating the Transnet railway network will also require significant investment, Beaumont said, and the party said it would raise R200bn for it — R100bn through public-private partnerships and another R100bn from the national budget.
“We will institute regulatory reforms to enhance value derived from investment in rail infrastructure as part of broader international investment facilitation drive into public infrastructure, and initiate a massive public works programme that leverages the need for workers in the railway lines rejuvenation project.”
A multidisciplinary infrastructure team for transversal management and oversight would have to be established for this plan to succeed, he said.
